Siddharth (“Sid”) Ramaswamy is a pupil at College of California, Santa Cruz, majoring in Music. He’s on the autism spectrum, communicates with an AAC system, and attends school with an aide. Siddharth has been a pupil of South Indian Classical Music (also referred to as Carnatic Music) on the violin for greater than ten years. His objective is to develop into a musician and a music instructor sometime. He hopes to make music extra accessible to all.
I met Sid when he carried out on the 2024 Stanford Neurodiversity Summit, was entranced by his music and expertise, and needed to know extra about his life and experiences.
Shannon Rosa: How did you develop into a speller, and the way previous have been you whenever you have been launched to spelling?
Siddharth (“Sid”) Ramaswamy: As a person on the autism spectrum, I wrestle with speech. I do not forget that once I was about three or 4 years previous, I felt as if phrases spoken by others have been buzzing in my head however in some way, I couldn’t reply to them. My mother and father took me to numerous docs and therapists to attempt to enhance my verbal communication expertise. In an try to search out the best instructional match for my studying type, I used to be made to strive totally different colleges. Sadly, all of them judged me on the idea of my unreliable verbal expertise and denied me age-appropriate training. Lastly, my mother and father determined to homeschool me. Even this technique was a wrestle for me, till the age of fourteen when my mom found spelling as a way for communication.
In October 2014, we traveled to Austin to attend a coaching workshop. It turned out to be an eye-opening and emotional expertise for our entire household. For the primary time, I used to be in a position to talk my ideas effectively. This fateful week was the turning level in my life and I’m most grateful for all of the alternatives which have been opened because of this distinctive methodology of communication.
Rosa: What would you want folks to know concerning the strategy of studying to spell? Have been there any components of the method that made you annoyed?
Ramaswamy: Spelling now come very naturally to me however the preliminary strategy of studying to speak with the assistance of this methodology was tough for me and my mom (the primary aide who started working with me). Since two individuals are required to make this course of work (the individual spelling and the aide who takes the phrases down), a balanced rapport between the 2 must be achieved. It’s just like studying to bounce the place initially the dancers could possibly be stepping on one another’s toes, however with follow we are able to obtain pace and effectivity. It took us almost two years and several other classes with the consultants to refine our method. It has been 9 years since I first started spelling and with every day follow and steerage I’ve come to a degree the place I can write school stage essays.
Rosa: I imagine you could have been taking part in classical Indian violin since earlier than you grew to become a speller. What lure did the violin have for you? How did your classes proceed, and have been you in a position to make your self understood throughout these classes?
Ramaswamy: For so long as I can keep in mind, music has been an integral a part of my life. My paternal grandfather and my father are each musicians and so they launched me to Carnatic music (South Indian classical music) at a really younger age. My household has been lucky to have an in depth relationship with the world-renowned Carnatic violinist, Maestro Lalgudi Jayaraman. My father was blessed to have been a pupil of his. Maybe, for this reason my father started to show me to vocal music even earlier than I might study to talk. He would use each little alternative resembling automobile rides or working errands to introduce me to totally different facets of Carnatic music. Maybe, each of us have been inspired by the truth that I skilled no impairment on this type of expression. Instinctively, I got here to know my speech impairment didn’t come into play the place music was involved and it was one space the place I might show my potential and my intelligence to the world round me.
Additionally, although my speech is described as unreliable, at the same time as a younger youngster I used to be in a position to communicate some Tamil (my native language) and it was sufficient for us to proceed with music classes with my father.
[Video: Sid performs on the violin while seated on a brown rug.]
Rosa: How have been you in a position to persevere by the early studying when the violin sounds weren’t all the time beautiful? Did you expertise any sensory points with occasional dissonant sounds? If that’s the case, how did you cope?
Ramaswamy: My mother and father might inform that I had a pure expertise for music, but studying to play the violin was a tough endeavor. To start with, I had points with visible notion and couldn’t place the violin’s bow parallel to the bridge. Additionally, autism has given me some auditory sensitivity. This could typically make easy on a regular basis sounds just like the working of water from a bathe faucet, or the whirring of a fan can appear unusually disconcerting to me. Luckily, the preliminary dissonant notes produced throughout my early makes an attempt at taking part in the violin didn’t trigger any auditory overload.
To beat the problem of depth notion, I practiced in entrance of a mirror to have the ability to study the right bow placement. One other sensory subject I struggled with was not having the ability to distinguish the quantity of strain that must be utilized with a purpose to produce tender or loud notes from the violin strings. I nonetheless wrestle with this. With years of continuous follow, I used to be in a position to make good progress. Possibly listening to the music of nice violinists conjures up me to persevere in my very own musical journey.
Rosa: Do you assume there are any parallels between your studying to spell and your studying to play the violin, when it comes to motor expertise or another space?
Ramaswamy: In distinction with the expertise of neurotypical individuals who can usually multitask with ease, the brain-body disconnect is extra pronounced in a subset of autistic people. This disconnect is what necessitates us to make use of spelling as an alternate type of communication.
So far as music is worried, college students who observe the Carnatic custom are first taught to sing a composition whereas concurrently protecting the rhythmic beat with their hand. Maintaining this stage of coordination was initially a herculean activity for me however with follow I discovered methods to first sing every composition after which reproduce it on the violin. The nuances of the Carnatic type entails advanced fingering whereas protecting the mind engaged the whole time to attain excellent execution. Trying again, I now really feel that in comparison with this, studying to spell to speak was a lot simpler. As soon as I bought the grasp of it, it supplied me with the best instrument to avoid my unreliable speech and make phrase retrieval a lot simpler.
Rosa: You possibly can communicate typically. Is it OK to ask why talking shouldn’t be a dependable communication methodology for you?
Ramaswamy: That is an attention-grabbing but tough query to reply. It provoked me to assume a bit of deeper into the dichotomy between my verbal expression versus spelling. If anybody strikes up a dialog with me (particularly if it’s in English), it could take them little time to determine that my language expertise seem like simplistic and that I wrestle to carry an in depth dialog on any given subject. This verbal lack of ability is not only restricted to a tutorial dialogue. I face such challenges even in a social setting the place somebody could possibly be speaking about one thing as informal as a TV present. But, this doesn’t lengthen to circumstances the place I depend on spelling to speak my ideas. Because of this spelling has opened the world to me. With out this instrument, attending a university resembling College of California Santa Cruz would have remained a dream for me.
Over time I’ve come to understand that my verbal expertise are affected by my lack of ability to retrieve the suitable phrases, and I find yourself giving inaccurate responses (which don’t adequately specific my ideas). Thus although I’m able to communicate in each Tamil and English, my spoken language is restricted and inconsistent. Nevertheless, when I’m spelling, phrase retrieval is simple for me and my strong and fluent language expertise emerge once I use a letter board (with the help of a educated aide). That is the mode I take advantage of at school and I’m able to formulating and expressing advanced ideas and concepts with it.
Some professionals within the subject of particular training imagine that given their restricted verbal skills, people on the autism spectrum ought to solely be uncovered to 1 language. Nevertheless, my very own expertise has been very totally different. Over time I’ve come to understand that I’ve a pure reward for languages. As an illustration, I’m fluent in English and Tamil (my native tongue). Additionally, for the final two years, I’ve additionally been studying Sanskrit. This effort has are available in collaboration with my maternal grandmother. Since she lives in India and I’m in California, we use zoom to work on these classes. For now this association has labored effectively, however additional on we could have to make some modifications once we enter into extra advanced components of this historic language.
As well as, in highschool I needed to fulfill a language requirement and for that I took Spanish programs for 2 years. I totally loved the publicity to a brand new language and was fascinated by its sounds and logical grammar guidelines. This love for languages has led me to pursue a minor in linguistics in school.
Given the small print of my expertise with quite a lot of languages, you could possibly see that my neurological disconnect lies in concurrently having the ability to course of my ideas and specific them verbally. This unreliability of speech has nothing to do with my mental skills to know ideas or talk my ideas by language.
Rosa: You at the moment are a junior at UC Santa Cruz, finding out music. What components of being on the college do you want greatest? What different feedback do you could have about your College expertise?
Ramaswamy: Attending a university has positively been a rewarding, but difficult expertise for me. Being half of a big classroom setting (since my highschool setting consisted of completely one-on-one instructing), navigating my manner in a big campus and studying a wholly new type of music (Western classical), have all been massive challenges for me. Over time, I’ve come to like and recognize school life, be it our lovely campus, the accommodating professors or pleasant and useful classmates. I nonetheless wrestle with not having the ability to kind friendships. Nevertheless, this isn’t one thing I dwell upon as a result of I’d fairly give attention to the inclusive and enriching instructional expertise that UCSC has supplied me.
Rosa: Would you want to present a message to non-speaking and minimally talking folks (and their households) about hope and perseverance?
Ramaswamy: My message to others on the spectrum is just this—observe your ardour and by no means quit. Every of us has a ardour or a expertise, so nurture it and work on it. It could take us longer to attain our objectives, however the sense of accomplishment is well worth the effort.
Additionally, to all of the lecturers, I wish to say—imagine in us! Please don’t assess our potential primarily based solely on our outward habits or what we could not be capable to say verbally. There’s much more underneath the floor than you may initially see, so place confidence in our skills after which watch us rise as much as meet your expectations.
